Published Mar 3, 2014
bagface
87 Posts
Just curious how other schools are handling ATI? Every semester we use ATI and we have to take these exams and score an 85% on material we haven't covered but will be covered by semester end. The difficulty is we have ATI books from 2013 to review off of but the tests they are giving us are from 2010 and the information is inaccurate at best. A lot of us are also struggling because the rationales are off and these are timed assessments.
I like using ATI - especially for rationale purposes. However these mid semester exams are a real pain because I feel like we aren't learning anything from them. Especially since we don't even know which questions we need to work on - it's just a guessing game until we hit the 85% benchmark.
How does your school use ATI? Is this kind of thing done everywhere or is our school just a little disorganized?
BusiestBSN
151 Posts
My biggest problem with ATI is sometimes it does not match what my instructor (or textbook) says. This would not bother me but we take the ATI proctored exam at the end of every course. This is usually something extra that we have to study for on our own time, yet counts as a part of our grade.
I wish I could say I find ATI helpful, but I do not think it is properly incorporated into the curriculum.
I'm so glad we aren't the only ones!!! Yes ours counts as a part of our grade each semester too.. we usually have two proctored exams since we have two rotations per semester. You are spot on saying it isn't properly incorporated into the curriculum.. soon it'll all be over though!
RubberDuckieLove
163 Posts
We study two ways. The first way is for our unit tests with what the school and textbooks teach. The second way is for ATI and ATI only. Our course materials and ATI are not compatible and it's very frustrating. Even the instructors realize it, but we are told just to use our ATI books and we will do fine. We have an ATI test at the end of each class and we have to score a level 2 (for non customized) and 80 percent for customized ones. It's just counts as a test grade, so it's really not a make it or break it type of test for us. (Our course grade is 70% unit exams and ATI, followed by 30% for the final)
ArrowRN, BSN, RN
4 Articles; 1,153 Posts
yeah use of ATI is pretty much hardly covered in class but you got to know it for the NCLEX. If you want the 2010 and 2013 modules are all available as pdf book downloads. Goto atitesting.com and login. in the middle of the page you should see "product support material click "GO" and click the +RN Review Modules. They also have corrections to the modules, because some has a lot of typos and errors. I go back and forth between both we purchased the 2010 modules before the 2013 ones came out. But for me I'd rather say to heck with ATI and just prepare for the NCLEX.
203bravo, MSN, APRN
1,211 Posts
Man I wish I had known this earlier -- I can download the Pharm materials, but never realized that other support materials was there as well.
THANK YOU
Man I wish I had known this earlier -- I can download the Pharm materials, but never realized that other support materials was there as well.THANK YOU
you're welcome and its great for doing a quick search on topics within the pdf rather than the modules because the silly books have no index.
JamieCampbell
1 Post
Ill tell you what I do... as you do the questions for the practice exams write down the answers and a clue about the question.. then retake the exam to get your practice exam benchmark (keep in mind you have the correct answers written down) then you can look at your paper from where you retook, and see where your weaknesses lie- also ATI tends to like specific topics (like glaucoma on the pharm test) you can study up on those as well
Also after you have done a practice exam you can got to the results tab and make a focused review that will give you specific chapters in specific books to review
mcknzkthrn
5 Posts
My university is aaaaall about ATI. before every MedSurg test we have to take the ATI practice test that corresponds with the topic. Then at the end of our course we take an ATI proctored test. They end up averaging our test grades from the semester and applying the ATI score to that. If you get a 1 it's -5 from your test average as a test grade. A 2 is +5, 3 is +10. It's not too bad, but it becomes killer when you have 3 ATI tests the week before finals.
CountryMomma, ASN, RN
589 Posts
We use ATI. We are also learning out of the 2013 books and taking the 2010 tests still, as the 2013 tests are provisional. I haven't heard anyone in my class complain about the difference. I haven't noticed a huge gap in the material either, really. We are required to achieve a Level 2 or higher to pass your course, and you are given one chance for remediation.
I haven't had to remediate, so I don't know the process, but I do know that on the page that opens after I complete my test, it breaks down exactly what I need to review, based on what questions I got wrong on the test. That remains available to me on my results page, so I can go back and look at my weaknesses and adjust my studying.
We are also required by my program to practice on the two practice forms, A and B, until we achieve a passing score of 90 on Form B.
I think ATI is a pretty decent resource. I like their tutorials, the Real Life isn't too bad, and I really like the NurseLogic. I do find the ebook version of the ATI books to be annoying. The style of the books just doesn't translate to the screen as well.
Compassion_x
449 Posts
My school uses it. We do tutorials that are due every unit for different subjects. We do the leadership activities for our management class. We do the practice and proctored exam, the comprehensive practice and proctored exam, and we're doing a three day ATI NCLEX review at the end of the program. We use the 2010 books and the 2010 exams, so that part is fine. Some of my classmates have found that the OB info varies from the textbook, which also varies with lecture information. Haven't had a problem with medsurg though.
As far as grading goes, we get 10 or 20 points for tutorials and practice assessments. Proctored exams are 5% of our class grades. We go based off of level 1, 2, or 3 instead of percentages. Level 1 and 2 have to remediate for more points.
My problem is that I wish I could see the correct answer and rationales for the proctored exams. Especially the comprehensive, as I feel it might be beneficial!
Hbrmom81
27 Posts
Okay I see this posted all the time but WHAT IS ATI?? I am in week 8 of my program and I haven't heard of it. I know we have some NLN exams coming up is this similar??